A/N: Hey everyone. Thanks so much for the reviews. They certainly gave me the boost I needed to want to start writing the next chapter as soon as possible. But first I would just like to thank those who've wished me a better health. I'm pleased to say that I feel better than ever right now. I don't mind being sick sometimes but I hate vomiting. It sucks when there's nothing left in your stomach but your stomach is still determined to turn itself inside out. Ugh!

Also, thanks for those who reviewed and told me about the error I put in there about Uryu's seating near the beginning of the chapter. I kept getting confused the few times I wrote his name because when I write Uryu, I end up spelling Urahara instead and vice versa. But I went back and fixed it, so now it says that URYU went to Ravenclaw, instead of URAHARA. So there you go and thanks for letting me know. That's the stuff I need. And thanks goes out to the reviewer who gave me a bit of an insight on Uryu, Chad and Orihime. That will definitely help. Well, enjoy the chapter.

BTW: This was actually supposed to go up on Wednesday but I couldn't get to an internet source until today. Sorry for the delay but at least it's nice and long.

Chapter Sixteen: Buckbeak

They reached the Transfiguration classroom with barely enough time to take their seats before the bell rang and Professor McGonagall swept into the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione took seats as far back as possible, Ron beside Harry and Hermione in front of him. Toshiro chose a seat beside one of the windows with Neville beside him, Ichigo in front of him and Renji in front of Neville. Toshiro noticed that several students, Neville included he noted with a reproving frown, were shooting cautious and apprehensive glanced back towards Harry, as if expecting him to drop dead any second.

Toshiro reached out and lightly smacked Neville's shoulder, causing the boy to snap around and then shrink in embarrassment at the frown on his face. "Staring is extremely rude." He whispered to him. "Especially when it obviously makes him feel uncomfortable. What if that lady had predicted that stuff about you and everyone kept looking at you as if expecting you to keel over and die where you sat? Would you enjoy everyone staring?"

Neville hung his head, feeling ashamed. "No, I guess not. Sorry."

The class remained silent while Professor McGonagall lectured the class on Animagi which, Toshiro noted with slight interest, were witches and wizards who could transform themselves at will into the form of an animal. Toshiro took feverish notes, copying down nearly everything she said on the subject, word for word, his quill flying across the parchment and his thoughts wandered apprehensively. He wondered vaguely if Voldemort or Sirius Black knew about Animagi and if so, could either of them do it? Is this how they've managed to not be seen?

He saw Ichigo and Renji perk up with interest as McGonagall transformed herself in front of the entire class into a black and grey tabby cat, complete with squared markings around her eyes where her spectacles would have been. That trick could be useful. But Toshiro had to admit that it could also be dangerous in the wrong hands, so to speak. If the shinigami could do it, it might give them the upper hand when it came time to fight Aizen. However, at the same time, if the shinigami could do it, then there was no reason to believe that Aizen and his group couldn't do it, too. Did Aizen know about the wizarding world? None of them had known until this mission, except for Head-Captain Yamamoto. Perhaps Aizen didn't know about this technique. For now, they would have to continue to observe these witches and wizards, learn all that they could, and keep their assigned mission in the process.

Toshiro sighed in exasperation when McGonagall turned back to her original form with a frown. "Really, what is the matter with you all? Not that I'm complaining, but this is the first time my transformation hasn't gotten an applause from a class."

Toshiro rolled his eyes as the class turned apprehensively to stare at Harry, who shrank into his seat, obviously wanting nothing more than to disappear. Hermione raised her hand hesitantly. "Please, professor. We've just been to our first Divination lesson and we were reading the tea leaves and…"

McGonagall held up a hand, her lips forming a slightly knowing frown and Toshiro wondered if she was trying not to roll her eyes. "I understand. There's no need to explain any further, Miss Granger. Tell me, who will be dying this time?"

Ichigo snorted. Harry raised a timid hand. "Me." He said miserably.

"I see." McGonagall said slowly. "Then I can assure you, Potter, that Professor Trelawney has made similar death predictions at least once a year, as her favorite way of greeting a new class, and not one of them has died so far. You look in perfect health to me, so you will excuse me if I don't refrain from giving you homework. If you die, then you don't have to turn it in. Fair enough?"

Hermione laughed and Harry nodded, smiling slightly. He felt a bit better with someone like McGonagall joking about something like this and it sounded less likely now that he was away from the overwhelming aroma of Trelawney's classroom. Ichigo turned in his seat and looked at Harry. "Hey, Harry. If you're really worried about dying, then maybe you should start walking around in bubble wrap. Just don't be offended if someone tries to mail you or make you bounce down a flight of stairs."

Harry and Hermione, along with a few other muggle-borns, laughed softly at the idea of Harry bouncing down corridors wrapped in bubble wrap. McGonagall cleared her throat. "Now that that's cleared up…" and they continued on with their lesson, but not without whispered comments from the rest of the students. Toshiro heard a girl behind him whisper to the girl beside her, "What about Neville's cup?"

Ichigo and Renji, who seemed to have heard her, began snickering and glanced back to Neville, who scowled at them. "Yeah, what about my cup?" he whispered to them mockingly. Though now, Toshiro could see that Neville didn't seem quite as flustered as he had when the Grim had first been brought up. That was good, because Neville didn't seem to have as much confidence as he should, and Toshiro was sure that talk about death omens wouldn't help matters.

After class ended, Toshiro and Neville followed the crowd down to the Great Hall for lunch, Ichigo and Renji wandering on ahead in order to sit with the Weasley twins, whom they found pleasant company. Toshiro took a seat almost directly in front of a tea pot and immediately poured himself a cup before he began serving himself. As he reached for a plate of Onigiri, he noticed Harry and the other two sit close by, Harry with a slight frown on his face and Ron casting nervous glances toward him out of the corner of his eye. Hermione seemed indifferent as she spooned something into a bowl before pushing the serving bowl towards Ron, speaking softly to him.

"So, what did you think of your first lessons here?" Neville asked him, pulling his gaze away from the group. He glanced at one of the Onigiri on Toshiro's plate curiously before shrugging and grabbing one for himself from the nearby plate. "What's in this?"

"It wasn't so bad." Toshiro answered the first question airily. "It was different from what we're used to but with the same concept. And that's just rice, with an Umeboshi."

"How is it different from how you do things where you're from?" Neville asked as he scrutinized his Onigiri. "And does this taste good? I mean, I wouldn't think of rice as something to eat for lunch and dinner and dessert, like those chocolate rice things you guys ate last night."

"It's not much different except that we were taught with only one teacher, and it was all pretty practical with lectures in between." Toshiro said. "And rice can be eaten however you want. It would just be better if you didn't mess with it. You know, like add things it doesn't need. For example, if rice is served to you white, then it should stay white. If something drips from you food while it's being transferred to your mouth, instead of letting it drip to the table top, like we frowned upon last night, it would be better to catch it with your rice. But then you should eat the part of the rice that was discolored, so that the rice is white once again."

"So you only had one teacher?" Neville asked as he finally bit into the Onigiri. Upon realizing that it wasn't that bad, he took a bigger bite and turned back to Toshiro. "What's that like? And you guys have a lot of rules."

"It's not so bad. It's easier when you don't have a dozen or so other people demanding attention at the same time. It makes distractions easier as well." Toshiro shrugged. "And you have the same amount of rules. They're not as much rules as they are guidelines. I believe it's called Table Manners. You have them too. Elbows on the table. Eating repulsively. Talking with your mouth full." He looked pointedly at Neville, who swallowed and chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It would be easier that way." He gave another small chuckle. "And yeah, we do have those same guidelines. Like sitting up straight when eating and knowing the difference between a dinner fork and a salad fork and things like that. My Gran frowns on bad table manners. I think you might actually like her."

Before Toshiro could respond, they both turned at the banging sound of something hitting the table. Hermione had slammed her book onto the table and was glaring at Ron while she spoke before getting to her feet and leaving the Great Hall. Toshiro turned back to Neville, raising an eyebrow curiously. Then he felt a hand tap his shoulder. He turned back to see Harry and Ron looking at him.

"Hey, Toshiro. You have Arithmancy with Hermione, right?" Ron asked from the other side of Harry.

Toshiro nodded curtly. "I do." He said shortly.

"You haven't been there yet, have you?" Harry asked.

Toshiro gave another nod. "I have."

Ron and Harry gave him a quizzical look. "How's that possible?" Neville asked beside him, also looking perplexed. "Your timetable said Arithmancy was at the same time as Divination. But you were sitting right next to me the whole time. How could you have gone to Arithmancy and Divination at the same time?"

"That's for me to know and you not to find out." Toshiro answered tersely. "I've already dealt with this with Professor McGonagall. Don't worry about it. It's not like there's a rule against it, is there?"

Neville shrugged. "Well, no." he admitted. "It just seems weird, is all. But now that I think about it, are you sure you can handle so many classes? I mean, Hermione might be able to pull it off based on what we know about her but we don't know much about you and your study habits. I'm just wondering if you're not going to suddenly feel overwhelmed and collapse or something."

Toshiro shook his head. "I've had a bigger work load than this many times. My paperwork alone was as thick as all the paperwork for one year here, possibly thicker. We worked every day, including weekends, from sun up to sun down, on either paperwork, practical lessons, or else learning theories and other useful things on the side. Constantly studying and absorbing information as much as possible. We had tests all the time and always at random so that we had to always be prepared and always have the answers at hand without having to refer to our notes all the time. The information was practically drilled into our brains." Of course, half of this is about our duties as Soul Reapers and the other half is of my time in the academy and during the majority of that time, the study habits were all created by me myself. But they don't need to know that.

Ron, Harry and Neville looked horrorstruck and Toshiro smirked. "If you're done gaping like fish, we do have another class starting soon."

As he had hoped, the subject was dropped as the three quickly turned back to their food and continued eating as much of their food as possible before lunch ended and the food was whisked back into the kitchens. Toshiro filled three more cups of tea, drank out of one and just as they were gathering their things for their next class, Toshiro swiped the last two cups from the table and followed Neville outside, sipping at one of the cups contently, to Neville's amusement.

The group headed out of the castle and onto the school grounds, heading to the entire class' first ever Care of Magical Creatures class. As they headed down to a small hut, Toshiro spotted Ichigo and Renji up ahead and got near enough to hear Ichigo mutter a bit loudly. "Don't tell me we've got this class with that stuck up prick and his wannabe body guards."

Sure enough, as they peered past Ichigo and Renji, they spotted Draco Malfoy and the rest of the third year Slytherins crowded around in front of the hut, at a considerable and obvious distance from the other Gryffindors. Toshiro didn't even bother to try not to roll his eyes as he realized that this class might end up being more eventful than it should if two of the most rivaling houses were going to be in the same class. Toshiro heard Neville sigh in exasperation beside him and Harry groan from behind. Neville nudged Toshiro and whispered. "Something tells me this class might not end well. Hagrid's teaching and the Slytherins don't treat him with the same respect that they do with the other teachers. Not really sure why. But I bet you anything that Draco Malfoy will be leading the Slytherins. He always does because he's a Malfoy and they're one of the oldest purebloods around."

"Blood means everything to these people, huh?" Toshiro whispered back.

"Yeah, but mostly to the Slytherins." Neville replied. "Gryffindors don't really care about blood types and other prejudice things like that and nether do the other houses as far as I know."

Toshiro nodded as they reached the hut, where the large man who had been announced the new teacher of this class was standing in front of the door with a large boarhound beside him, the man obviously impatient to start as he bounced on the balls of his feet. Once the class was assembled, the man, Hagrid, beamed at them through his mane of wild black hair and beard. "Got a real treat for yeh all. Everyone here? Great, follow me."

The class followed him as he walked away from hit hut towards the forest before veering left and leading them towards a large empty paddock. Then he beamed down at them again, seemingly growing excited. "Right. Now, everyone gather 'round. Tha's it. Can everyone see? Good, now first open yer books to – "

"How?" Malfoy asked coldly, sneering up at Hagrid.

"Eh? How?" Hagrid asked in confusion.

"How are we supposed to open our books?" Malfoy held up his book, which was wrapped tightly in coils of rope. The other students pulled out their copies as well and Toshiro noticed with mild interest that the others had bound their books similarly to Malfoy's, some with tape, others with belts and even some in tightly fitting sacks.

Hagrid seemed to wilt. "Hasn', hasn' anyone been able ter open their books?" he asked sadly.

Most of the class shook their heads. Toshiro raised his book, which was sitting calmly in his hand, opened, above his head. "I have." The rest of the class turned as one to stare incredulously at him. Renji raised his book as well. "So have I."

"How?" Neville asked Toshiro in amazement.

Toshiro shrugged. "I just opened it. It tried to bite me but after I let it know that I was in charge, it was fine." He cocked his head towards Renji. "And Renji just has a bit of an affinity for most animals." Particularly those related to the baboon and snake, but others too.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew how to open the book?" Harry demanded.

Toshiro shrugged again. "You didn't ask. I figured you used your common sense and opened it yourself."

"Common sense?" Neville asked in bewilderment.

Toshiro sighed and began explaining as if speaking to children, which technically he was. "This book is called the Monster Book of Monsters. It is a book for magical creatures. A.K.A., animals, roughly. And with most animals, the alpha prevails. Take for example, a dog. If you show the dog that you are the master, it will learn to obey you. But if you act out in fear, it will sense it and walk all over you. Animals detect fear and use it against you. This book is no different. Think of it as a magical creature. Show it who's in charge."

"Yeh could do that." Hagrid conceded, looking slightly impressed by the way Toshiro took command of his book and inwardly swelling with pride at learning that Renji had a knack for animals. He grabbed Hermione's book and pulled off the tape binding it shut. "But all yeh really need to do is stroke 'em." He raised a large finger and stroked the spine of the book, which shuddered before falling open, unmoving.

"Oh, we need to stroke them." Draco sneered. "How stupid of us. Why ever didn't we think of that?"

"I thought it was funny." Hagrid said as he handed Hermione her book.

"Hilarious." Draco muttered.

"It's actually pretty clever if you ask me." Ichigo snapped.

"No one asked you." Malfoy scowled with narrowed eyes.

Ichigo glared back. "No one asked for your opinion and yet you still gave it. Unless you want a rep as a hypocrite, shut your face." Ichigo shot back.

Malfoy glared at Ichigo and Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward, both flexing their muscles in intimidation. Renji stepped up beside Ichigo and grinned tauntingly. "Bring it, turds."

Neville snorted. "'Turds'?" he asked with a chuckle. Several other students snickered as well. Crabbe and Goyle growled menacingly.

"Honestly, you guys are so intelligent." Toshiro muttered sarcastically. "You do realize that fighting in front of someone who has the power to give out detentions is not only stupid, but seeing as how he can also take points away, the rest of your housemates won't be too happy with you if you make them lose any, no matter who you are. Not to mention how your Head of House would react upon hearing that their students were stupid enough to fight in front of authority figures. And get caught." At seeing the puzzled looks on the two Slytherins, Toshiro rolled his eyes and said slowly and deliberately. "Fighting in front of a teacher is a no-no. He'll take points. Your friends will be mad at you. And so will your Head of House. Save it for another day."

Crabbe and Goyle exchanged stupid looks before turning to Malfoy, as if seeking instructions. Malfoy glared at the three exchange students, Toshiro in particular, but nodded to his lackeys. He was beginning to dislike this kid less and less. Who was he to speak this way to him? He was a Malfoy, darn it! Where was the respect? "Save it." He muttered reluctantly.

Toshiro looked at him dully. "A smart move." Malfoy glowered but bit his tongue.

"Uh, right." Hagrid said nervously, determined to bring the class back on track before it got ugly. "Well, now that yeh got yer books, ye'll need the creatures. So, uh, I'll go fetch them." Then he turned and entered the paddock.

Draco muttered more nonsense once Hagrid was out of sight and Harry snapped back at him before Hagrid returned, leading a dozen or so odd looking creatures. They had the body and entire back ends of horses but their front legs and head were that of a large eagle, each with a nasty looking beak and bright orange eyes. Their large grey deadly-looking talons dug in the dirt as they eyed the students apprehensively. Hagrid lead them to the front of the class, which took tentative steps back, chains in hands leading up to the leather collars around each creature's neck, and grinned cheerily.

"These here are called Hippogriffs." He said as he tethered the creatures to posts along the fence. "Right beautiful creatures, they are. Come a bit closer, tha's it." At first, none of the students seemed to want to get closer but finally Harry, Ron, Hermione and the transfer students stepped forward; Harry, Ron and Hermione approaching cautiously and the transfers stepping up more boldly. Seeing Toshiro and the others step up, Neville took a couple tentative steps, and seeing timid Neville get close, it wasn't long before the rest of the class had gotten closer as well, albeit further back.

"Now, first thing yeh need to know about Hippogriffs is they're proud." Hagrid said. "They get easily offended, see. Yeh never insult a hippogriff or it'll be the last thing yeh ever do."

Toshiro looked up as Ichigo nudged him and gestured towards where Malfoy was standing. Toshiro turned and noticed that he and his two goons weren't listening to what Hagrid was saying and instead were whispering to each other, occasionally glancing deviously in Hagrid's direction as he continued to instruct the class on proper behavior towards a hippogriff. Toshiro made eye contact with Ichigo and Renji and gave a small nod, a silent instruction to keep an eye on the three. The two nodded back and the three resumed listening to Hagrid, keeping a trained eye on the three suspicious Slytherins.

"Always wait for the hippogriff ter make the first move." He continued. "It's polite and they like politeness, see? What yeh do is yeh walk up to him, yeh bow, and wait. If he bows back, yeh can touch him. If he doesn' bow back, then slowly back away from him, 'cause he might get offended if yeh stay around when he doesn't want yeh to. Now, who wants te go first?"

No one wanted to move forward. They all eyed the hippogriffs apprehensively, as the hippogriffs clearly didn't like being tied up and constantly tossed their heads and opened and closed their great wings. Toshiro hung back, not out of fear, but out of wanting the rest of the class, who clearly had courage problems despite their placement in Gryffindor, house of courage, to step up and take the initiative. None seemed to want to.

"No one?" Hagrid said, almost pleadingly.

Renji drew himself up and was about to step forward but Harry beat him to it, taking a deep breath before saying, "I'll do it."

There was a small gasp and Toshiro turned to see two girls, the two who had most seemed to take Trelawney's predictions to heart, staring fearfully at Harry's back. "Harry, no, don't forget your tea leaves!" they whispered. Toshiro rolled his eyes and Ichigo scoffed loud enough for them to hear. They turned and shot him dirty looks, which he countered by showing them his middle finger. They both gasped, looking affronted, and turned away, their noses in the air pompously.

"Ichigo's clearly the lady's man." Neville whispered sarcastically to Toshiro. Toshiro smirked and Renji snorted, having heard Neville's comment. Ichigo frowned and stuck his tongue at him.

"Good man, Harry!" Hagrid roared, bringing them back to the lesson. "Right, let's see how yeh do with Buckbeak here."

Hagrid walked over to the grey hippogriff and pulled him away from the others and over to Harry, who had climbed over the fence of the paddock to stand inside. Hagrid pulled off the collar and backed away, leaving Harry and Buckbeak relatively alone. The tension was so thick on the other side of the paddock that Harry could feel it himself as he watched the hippogriff eye him suspiciously.

"Easy, Harry." Hagrid said quietly. "Make eye contact and wait and see if he'll meet it. Good. Now bow, nice and easy." Harry bowed but the hippogriff didn't seem to want to reciprocate. "Ah, back away, Harry, careful now." Harry started backing away but before he could take more than two steps, the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly legs and bowed back to him.

"Great job, Harry!" Hagrid said proudly. "Now ye can touch him. Go ahead, jus' pet his beak."

Harry reluctantly stepped up to Buckbeak and timidly petted his beak. The class seemed to let out a breath it hadn't realized it was holding and began cheering, glad Harry hadn't been killed.

"Now I reckon he'll let yeh ride him." Hagrid said and gave Harry a slight push towards Buckbeak's feathery back. "Just climb up but make sure yeh don't pull out any of his feathers, he won't like that."

Harry climbed up onto Buckbeak's back and planted himself just behind the large wings, looking a bit uncomfortable. Hagrid stepped up behind Buckbeak. "Off yeh go, then!" he shouted and slapped Buckbeak's hindquarters. Immediately the hippogriff shot off, Harry barely having time to wrap his arms around it's neck, and flew into the air, flying several feet above the ground. Harry seemed to be holding on for dear life as the hippogriff flew around the class a couple times before coming back down. Toshiro and the other transfers waited apprehensively, hoping Harry didn't fall off before or during the landing. They didn't want him getting stepped on by mistake. Thankfully Harry managed to stay on as the hippogriff landed, a bit roughly, and stood still once more. Harry slid off the hippogriff's back, obviously not being able to get off fast enough, and the class erupting into relieved applause.

"Good job, Harry!" Hagrid yelled happily. "Who wants ter go next?"

Harry's success with the hippogriff seemed to spark a new flare of courage in the other students, who all began gathering closer, now interested in impressing the creatures themselves. Toshiro, Ichigo, Renji, and Neville gathered around the black one, Harry watched as Ron and Hermione used the chestnut colored hippogriff and Toshiro noted that Malfoy and the other two had taken over Buckbeak. Toshiro turned half his attention back to their own hippogriff, which had bowed to Renji first, instead of Renji making the first move.

Neville took a turn with the hippogriff and after staying bowed for all of five seconds, he backed away quickly. He didn't get very far, as Toshiro stepped up behind him and began pushing him back towards the creature. "What are you doing?" Neville asked fearfully, trying to resist as Toshiro pushed him back. Toshiro was surprisingly strong for his size.

"He said to bow and then wait." Toshiro answered, maneuvering him back in front of the black hippogriff.

"I did wait." Neville said.

"Yes, for like five seconds." Toshiro snapped. "You didn't even give it time to respond. Are you a Gryffindor or a chicken?"

Neville frowned at him and sighed. He faced the hippogriff again, who was eyeing him wearily, and bowed, forcing himself to wait longer than five seconds. After about twenty seconds, he was counting, the hippogriff bowed back. "See. Told you." Toshiro muttered.

Feeling a bit surprised, Neville stepped timidly toward the hippogriff and cautiously petted its beak. He nearly jumped a foot in the air when a scream filled their ears. Everyone turned in time to see Malfoy fall to the ground, blood starting to ooze into his robes from one of his sleeves. Hagrid was forcing Buckbeak back into his collar and retied him to the fence a little ways away from the class.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy moaned, clutching his arm and rolling on the ground. Blood oozed from a nasty-looking cut on his arm and dripped onto the grass when Hagrid picked him up and began running back to the castle with Malfoy in his arms.

"W-what happened?" Neville asked fearfully, slowly backing away from the hippogriff that he was currently standing next to.

"That idiot." Ichigo muttered as the class began trekking back towards the castle.

"They should fire him straight away!" cried a girl with the Slytherin insignia on her robes, her face tear-streaked.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" a boy snapped back.

"What happened?" Neville repeated softly to Toshiro.

"Mr. High and Mighty insulted the hippogriff after he was clearly instructed not to." Renji said angrily.

Ichigo turned to Neville. "Will they put it down?" he asked softly. "The hippogriff, I mean. Most places I know, if an animal attacks a human, no matter what type, they euthanize it. Will they do that here?"

Neville looked worried. "I hope not. It's not its fault. And Hagrid really likes animals. If they kill it, he'll be heartbroken."

"Stupid, pompous, imbecile." Renji seethed.

The crying Slytherin girl declared she was going to check on Malfoy and proceeded up the stairs, obviously heading towards the Hospital Wing. The transfers followed the rest of the Gryffindors up to Gryffindor Tower and into their common room. Toshiro quickly passed the rest of the students and made his way to one of the only corners of the room with a window away from the roaring fire and placed his school bag on the windowsill, obviously staking claim to that spot. Neville raised an eyebrow but merely shrugged and followed, placing his own bag on the low table and taking a seat in one of the recliners.

Harry, Ron and Hermione proceeded to their own dormitories, deposited their bags and returned to take seats around the same table as Neville and Toshiro; Ichigo and Renji had wandered off to where the Weasley twins and their dreadlock friend were talking animatedly. Toshiro raised an eyebrow questioningly and Harry shrugged. "This is usually where we sit. It's just a habit to come over here."

Neville pointed to a corner on the other side of the room, where a small couch was perched against a wall. "I usually sit over there in that corner with Dean and Seamus."

"Why aren't you?" Toshiro asked.

"You want me to leave?" Neville asked, looking hurt.

Toshiro shook his head. "That's not what I said. If you usually sit over there, why the change? Why suddenly sit over here?"

"Oh." Neville said. He looked thoughtful. "I don't really know. I guess I sort of feel like a third wheel with them. I mean, they're okay and all, but they don't really act much like my friends. They're more of just dorm mates. When we talk about classes and other stuff, it almost seems like they don't take in a word I say when I try to contribute. I mean, I know I'm forgetful and accident-prone, but I didn't think that made me bad to be around or anything."

"If that's how they treat you, why do you hang out with them?" Hermione asked reprovingly, glaring in the direction of the two boys in question.

Neville shrugged. "I don't really have any friends. I mean, I do, but not in Gryffindor. Everyone else treats me much the same as them." He turned to Toshiro. "But you don't. You treat me more like a person rather than like a bother. I guess that's why I'm over here."

"We don't do that." Ron said defensively.

Neville gave him an almost sad smile. "Then why do you guys brush me off when we meet in the corridors or something? I have noticed, you know. When I try to talk to you, you act like I'm interrupting something or like you're not in the mood to deal with me." Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at him guiltily, their mouths opening to speak, obviously to apologize. Neville shrugged. "It's okay. I'm not blaming you or saying it to make you feel bad. But I'm not like you guys. I don't go around breaking rules and getting into trouble and stuff. I don't get into fights with Malfoy and I don't exactly take risks in anything I do. I'm pretty neutral, which is like the opposite of you guys, so we don't exactly coincide much." He gave a small laugh. "I kind of have to be neutral; if my Gran found out I had gotten in trouble for the smallest thing, she'd have my head."

Harry, Ron and Hermione headed down to the Great Hall for dinner before the majority of the others, obviously wanting to speak with Hagrid. Toshiro and Neville headed down a while later and noticed that Hagrid was nowhere in sight. Neville turned to Toshiro. "Do you want to sit with Luna today?" he asked.

Toshiro shrugged and the two of them headed for the Ravenclaw table and sat down across from a dreamy looking Luna. Rukia and Uryu, who were both in a heated conversation, looked up curiously at his presence but when he merely shrugged and sat down with Neville across from a girl with stringy short blond hair, they shrugged and continued their conversation.

Luna looked up at them with a dreamy expression and said softly. "Hello."

"Hi, Luna." Neville said with a nod as he began piling food onto a plate.

"Hi." Toshiro said curtly. He wasn't entirely sure about her yet.

"I suppose the whole school is talking about what happened in your Care of Magical Creatures class." Luna said conversationally. "Hippogriffs are really magnificent creatures and would never harm a human for no reason. I suppose a Vargle must have been lurking around. They're very rude, you know."

"Are they?" Neville asked. "That must have been something to do with it, then. Can they influence others to be rude? Because Hagrid told us not to be rude and insult them or else they'll attack. But Malfoy didn't listen and he insulted one."

Luna nodded. "Oh, yes. They can be quite influential."

Toshiro tuned them out as they continued to talk about Malfoy and the hippogriff, and looked around the table. The hat had considered putting him in this house and as he looked around, he noticed that the majority of the students here had their noses buried in books or else they were having deep discussions about their thoughts on their classes so far. The older students were already comparing notes and study ideas. As Toshiro continued to look around, his gaze drifted to the double doors, which were partly open, and his eyes narrowed as a familiar stuffed orange lion peeked its head through, looking around excitedly. Toshiro noticed it spot Rukia and scuttled towards their table.

Toshiro glanced at Luna and Neville, noticed that neither of them were looking at him and deliberately elbowed the nearest fork off the table. "Excuse me." He said and placed his chopsticks on the table before ducking under. He spotted the lion scurrying under the table, occasionally stopping to peer up a skirt, and stealthily crawled over and grabbed it, wrapping his hand around its head and his fingers over its mouth. It began struggling but froze when Toshiro spoke in an icy voice.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" he demanded. He let go of its head and turned it to face him. He glared down at the mod soul inside the stuffed animal, which coward before him. "You were instructed to stay in the dormitory. So what the hell are you doing down here?"

"S-sorry, taicho." Kon muttered quietly. "But I was bored! There's nothing to do up there."

"Keep your voice down!" Toshiro hissed at him, shaking him slightly. "I don't care if you're bored. If you're caught, you might jeopardize everything we're working for."

"I won't get caught." Kon insisted.

"Like you weren't caught just now?" Toshiro asked.

"That's different." Kon said. "You're captain ranked. You're supposed to be overly observant. But these kids aren't going to notice. Besides, even if they do, all they'll think is that I'm a charmed stuffed animal, like Ichigo said to that Potter kid."

Before Toshiro could respond, Neville's voice floated over to him. "Toshiro? How long does it take to pick up a fork? And what are you doing over there?" Toshiro scowled down at Kon, mouthed to be quiet, and crawled back towards his seat. He pulled himself up and held up Kon.

"Found this under the table." He said lightly.

Neville and Luna looked at it curiously. "Do you think it belongs to one of the girls here?" Neville asked.

Toshiro shook his head, an idea forming in his head. It was Ichigo's responsibility to keep tabs on Kon anyways, and he clearly wasn't doing a good job. Toshiro needed to fix that. "No, it's Ichigo's."

Neville's eyes widened incredulously. "Ichigo's?"

Toshiro nodded. "Yes. He must have dropped it somewhere. I'll return it later." He placed Kon into a pocket of his robes and continued eating. Once dinner was over, the two said goodbye to Luna and headed back to Gryffindor Tower, Neville obviously at peace with food in his belly. They headed toward the corner they had been in earlier, began taking out books, parchment, and quills, and settled down to start on their homework. Harry, Ron and Hermione soon joined them.

Toshiro looked up and surveyed the room. It seemed to be filled with every Gryffindor and Ichigo and Renji were once again with the Weasley twins and their friend, whom he learned was named Lee Jordan. Good. Toshiro pulled Kon out of his pocket and, ignoring the curious looks from Ron and Hermione as to why he had a stuffed lion in his pocket, he held it up high over his head and called loudly. "Ichigo! I found that stuffed lion you sleep with! It was under the Ravenclaw table!"

As he had expected, his announcement had quieted the room and several people began snickering as what he said sank in. Ichigo scowled, his face turning red as he glared daggers at the little captain. "I don't want it." He said.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I thought you said your little sisters wanted to you keep an eye on it. That's why you sleep with it."

"I don't sleep with it!" Ichigo snapped, glaring at Renji as he openly started laughing, enticing others to laugh as well. He stomped over to Toshiro and snatched the lion away.

"Next time I tell you to keep tabs on him, keep tabs on him!" Toshiro snapped in Japanese after he pulled his ring off. "I found him scuttling under tables, looking up girls' skirts. Do you really want him associated with you if he gets caught? Especially now that everyone knows he belongs to you."

Ichigo pulled off his ring and snapped back. "That's low." He growled.

"Then keep better tabs on him. We don't need anything jeopardizing the mission!" Toshiro snapped.

"Fine!" Ichigo growled and stomped up the stairs to the dormitory and returned a few seconds later without the stuffed lion.

Toshiro placed his ring back on his finger and continued working, ignoring the curious gazes of the other four. Eventually Harry, Ron and Hermione left the common room, muttering about going to see Hagrid while it's still early. After another couple hours of working, in which Toshiro and Neville were able to get the majority of their homework finished except for Divination, which Toshiro didn't want to bother with just yet, they finally headed up to bed. They and the other boys of the dorm quickly prepared for bed, Harry and Ron returning a while later, and everyone settled in for the night. As he bade Neville a good night, he couldn't help feeling a sense of foreboding for what lay ahead of them. The first day of classes had been extremely eventful and full of disasters but Toshiro had a feeling that this was just the beginning and the worst was yet to come. God, I hate this mission!

A/N: Yay, I finished! This chapter was kind of hard for me to write. So many details and I didn't want everything to be like the books. We all know the details about what our trio talked about with the Grim, and while they were in Care of Magical Creatures, and what really happened with Malfoy, and what they spoke about during dinner and all that other stuff. So I decided to have other things taking place during those times. Hence, Neville's experiences with the hippogriff, he and Toshiro sitting with Luna, who is just hilarious, and I even decided to put a bit of Neville-pity in there. I don't think Dean and Seamus actually treat Neville that bad but people do seem to disregard him a lot, including Harry, Ron and Hermione, though she tends to give him a bit more attention than the others do. So I decided to let them see that but to take it a bit further. Not trying to bash on Dean or Seamus. Just want them to see how they and everyone else treats him and what effects that has on him. Hopefully, Toshiro will realize that maybe a real friend is all Neville needs to help boost his confidence. As well as some encouragement from others, especially the teachers.

Hope you guys liked this one. Please let me know what you guys thought and I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. I've been writing other stories on the side and have decided not to post any others until they are finished. That will save me a lot of headaches. But it also takes time away from this one a bit. But I'm trying. Also, before I forget, in one of my stories, the main character is apartment shopping but I need ideas. Does anyone have any ideas on the description of an apartment for a single male, in his late twenties to early thirties, with a large dog and a six year old daughter? Take into consideration school locations, the commute, surrounding buildings, etcetera. Thanks.